Monday, February 8, 2010

Fwd: [se-ed] DISCUSSION: Replicating Innovative Indian Experiences forImplementation of Right to Education. Reply by 10 February 2010.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Anjela Taneja <anjela_taneja@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 6:28 PM
Subject: Re: [se-ed] DISCUSSION: Replicating Innovative Indian Experiences forImplementation of Right to Education. Reply by 10 February 2010.
To: Education Community <se-ed@solutionexchange-un.net.in>


Dear All,

There are so many tangled threads in this issue related to teacher management that attempting to intervene at only one front is bound to fail since it would not cover the gamut of problems that affect the system. At the outset it may be essential to list some of these "non-methodology" issues:
  • Overall Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) of the country hovers over the current SSA Norm, but even the average exceeds the new RTE one. Consequently, PTRs being what they are, it's unrealistic to really obtain high quality outputs.
  • Roughly 1 in 10 teachers across the country (by the government's own estimates) are para-teachers (however, it may define it). The real figure of professionally untrained teachers is even higher.
  • Many teachers are woefully under-paid.
  • Many of the existing teacher vacancies have not been filled.
  • There are no incentives or basic facilities for teachers to undertake rural posting- or posting outside their own village.
  • The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRCs) are not performing the role expected of them. There is no oversight or support to the teachers on-site.
  • Community participation- monitoring systems have not really been set up properly despite lot of legal spaces for the same in existence.
  • Teacher training systems have not been set up, or if they had been once set up, have been dismantled over the decades.
  • BRCs and DIETS have also failed to deliver what was expected of them- having been understaffed and underfunded and often (in the case of the DIETS in particular) cut off from the mainstream of education programmes.
  • Yes, there are few indigenous teaching methodologies. Yes, even fewer of these are sensitive to the local context.
How can the government be supported to improve the motivation and skills of existing teachers in government schools?
·         It is essential to look at the various stakeholders who could assist the process. In addition to the stakeholders listed in your OP, it is essential to likewise build bridges with the teacher Unions on issues other than just their salaries.  
Effective ways of bringing into the pool of teachers who are trained and motivated a large number of youths with graduate degrees (sometimes even 'teacher qualifications'), who are currently unemployed?
  • In my opinion, this sounds dangerously close to another proposition to bring back para-teachers who are (going by your own text) usually unqualified to teach. If the intent is to create a teacher cadre of professionals- something essential to fix the problems described above, there is no quick fix except to build the said cadre (with opportunities for professional growth) and not convert teaching  into the last refuge of the un-qualified.
Please share the teaching methodologies you have used and found useful in enabling high quality learning  teaching and monitoring systems, and which can be scaled up by government schools. 
  • There is no other body with the experience of delivering education on a large scale and from Class I-12 in diverse settings and for children from marginalized groups except the government. There are good experiences when government teachers themselves have delivered and delivered well. Nalli Kalli & the early Lok Jumbish are examples in point.
  • The only experience of things having been done on scale outside the government is the Eklavya's Hoshangabad Science Teaching Experiment. It too has since ended having come into contact with existing reality of functioning in a government system. In addition to Rishi Valley itself, there are also some experiments undertaken under Janshala (Bodh Shiksha Samiti & Digantar, both Jaipur, Rajasthan).  The experience of ABL in TN is another possible experience to learn from. Some of the other organizations that I have been in touch with which have a good resource on issues of pedagogy issues are Shikshasandhan, Orissa, Bhasha, Gujarat & APCL, Bihar. However, having worked in one of the premier pedagogy NGOs in North India, I  once again reiterate that approaches that  worked in our smaller NGO schools do not necessarily work in the government system. Size does Matter.
  • Some of the experiences of monitoring systems of educational systems that are replicable include MV Foundation (AP & especially other parts of the country) and some of the work supported by us (ActionAid- including but not limited to, Madhya Pradesh Shiksha Abhiyan, MP; AMIED, Alwar, Rajasthan; and East West Society, Bihar; CARD, Samastipur, Bihar & APCL, Bihar).
How official resources are best directed in the implementation of the RTE Act:  
  • The principal role of NGOs and CSOs should be to monitor the functioning of the education system. There is a clear role for NGOs in supporting research, policy advocacy and monitoring and addressing the underlying governance issues.
  • The recent entry of PPP into secondary education in the form of Model Schools has been opposed violently across the country. It is better not to open the Pandora's Box by suggesting entry into PPP for elementary education covered under the Act.  However, Prof Krishna Kumar, NCERT Director, has spoken about the possibility of PPP in teacher training. There is some value of regulating and streamline the process of delivery of teacher training by private teacher training institutes (that are mushrooming already) to get their involvement in pre-service and in-service training. However, this would entail setting up clear guidelines and regulatory mechanisms to ensure contract compliance under the PPP.

For full response click

Anjela Taneja,
Actionaid India
New Delhi

From: Radhika Herzberger [mailto:radhika@rishivalley.org]
Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 4:02 PM
To: 'Education Community'
Subject: [se-ed] DISCUSSION: Replicating Innovative Indian Experiences forImplementation of Right to Education. Reply by 10 February 2010.

Moderator's Note: Dear Members, we are initiating discussion on learning from the innovative initiatives in order to implement Right to Education Act, the historical legal commitment by Government of India to provide for free and compulsory education to all children of the Country. As a community of practitioners interested in sharing, linking and learning, we all are aware of the importance of knowledge in helping us improve our interventions. India has a range of very innovative – creative experiments with a huge potential to learn from and replicate. This discussion would help us in sharing ways and methods to hold hands of the government in shouldering the responsibility to make available quality education to all children.

We are happy to announce that Dr. Radhika Herzberger, a well known name amongst the people working in the field of education in India and across the borders, has agreed to Guest Moderate this discussion. Dr. Radhika Herzberger teaches history and presently serves as Director of Rishi Valley Education Centre, a pioneering educational initiative in the Country. As an educational thinker, philosopher and practitioner she has in her credit a number of well acclaimed books written on various aspects of education. Her out of the box thinking and reflection on the challenges in education and the pragmatic approach to shape those ideas in the form of action has been widely received, studied and used by interventions all over.

We look forward to a stimulating discussion on the issue.

Shubhangi  

Dear Friends,

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 received the assent of the President of India in August 2009.  The main provisions of the Act can be found at; web link http://education.nic.in/Elementary/free%20and%20compulsory.pdf  (Size 1.48 MB)

The debates on the Right to Education, especially in Solution Exchange, has been on

The Consolidated Replies with respect to each of the discussion list some innovations in education, and discuss critical issues pertaining to the Right to Education (RTE)

We at the Rishi Valley School believe that education is the one most critical aspect of human development that impacts all social and economic development in a country and across the world.  Now that the right to education has been enacted, and the government is fully committed to finding the solution to reaching large numbers, we feel it is important to engage in a serious discourse on the quality of education that we provide to children, especially at the primary level.

We would therefore request inputs from the members of the education community on the following key aspects of quality of education: 
  • How can the government be supported to improve the motivation and skills of existing teachers in government schools?
  • Moreover, are there effective ways of bringing into the pool of teachers who are trained and motivated a large number of youths with graduate degrees (sometimes even 'teacher qualifications'), who are currently unemployed?
  • The Rishi Valley School's Rural Education Centre works with a methodology, which has been replicated and scaled up in both rural and urban locales within India, and has been nationally and internationally acclaimed (URL). There are many such methodologies worth replicating. Please share the teaching methodologies you have used and found useful in enabling high quality learning  teaching and monitoring systems, and which can be scaled up by government schools. 
  • Our belief is that school education must continue to be the responsibility of the state and the state must invest in improving its own capacity to deliver.  We would invite comments from members on how official resources are best directed in the implementation of the RTE Act:  
·   In government schools
·   Through NGOs and educational foundations
·   Through Public-Private Partnership (PPPS) with for-profit educational organization

Such a discussion will help reputed educational organizations to provide pro-active support to the government in implementation of RTEA, and help direct official resources towards high quality education, that is innovative and suited to local needs. Post discussion, it is also proposed to bring together a group of reputed educational institutions within the country to share the lessons from these approaches, and brainstorm to scale these up in different parts of the country as appropriate?  The new approaches can be incubated with NGOs working in partnership with government schools, and government resources can be allocated to these.

Regards

Radhika Herzberger and A. Kumaraswamy
Rishi Valley School
Madanapalle, Chittoor District
Andhra Pradesh
(www.rishivalley.org)




--
Ch.Santakar
Pujariput
Koraput-764020
Orissa
Mob:09437192553
e-mail:santakar@gmail.com
web:www.koraputonline.com
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)